Negotiations
by Revia
Summary: [AthrunKira] Dearka holds a party for his 21st birthday and is given a list of challenges he must complete before the night's over. Athrun and Kira get caught in the crossfire. Rated for language and shounen ai content.


Disclaimer: I never have and never will own Gundam Seed.

Warnings: Alcohol plus minor swearing plus Kira/Athrun shounen-ai. If you're offended by any of it, then turn back now. Oh, and there's mention of two girls kissing but nothing ever comes of it.

A/N: A friend of mine went to a party where the birthday girl had to complete a list of challenges before the night was up. My friend then challenged me to write a fic using that list (or part of it, seeing as the real thing was about 40 items long) and this is what resulted. I can't believe I actually wrote it…

* * *

Negotiations 

* * *

Athrun sighed as his taxi pulled up in front of Dearka's house. There were four cars crammed in the thin driveway. Four! A white convertible's front right tire was nestled in the garden, sunken into the moist soil, while a small blue car was almost completely parked on the grass. He paid the driver, hopped out of the cab and wandered up the front walk. The front door was closed, but the obnoxiously loud music and its accompanying cackle of yelling voices could be plainly heard from the lawn.

"Thank you!" A car door slammed shut and another taxi pulled away into the night. The quick click-clacking of heels announced the arrival of Miriallia as she rushed towards the house. "Athrun! The door's unlocked, go on in!"

He obliged and opened the door for her, the resulting blast of warm music-soaked air drowning any response he may have had. She grinned and hollered over the noise, "Thanks! Dearka's going to kill me for being this late! Gotta run! See ya!" and promptly disappeared into the crowd. Athrun stood in the front hall for a few moments, a dark eyebrow raised as he surveyed the bustling party. 'Kira said he'd meet me here…' But Kira's 'here' now seemed awfully ambiguous. There had to be at least a hundred people in the front rooms alone, less than a quarter of which he figured he knew.

Well, he decided, standing on the front mat gaping was a useless endeavor. He briefly analyzed the crowd and picked the best plan for infiltration of the living room. He had shuffled between two men his age ("Excuse me."), sidestepped around a gaggle of girls ("Pardon me!"), and nudged his way through a knot of dancers ("Sorry! Pardon me!"), when he heard a very loud, very _intoxicated_ "ATHRUN!" A shot glass was sloppily shoved into his hand before he could even fully turn around to greet Dearka. "Yeah! You made it! And it's MY birthday, so drink that!"

Athrun laughed and downed it without protest. "Have you se-"

"Oh! Kira's looking for you!" Dearka interrupted as they began worming through the crowd. "He got here a good half an hour ago." Dearka paused. "…I think." The blonde looked mildly confused. "Maybe an hour? He got here… Ugh, whatever. Point being, he's looking for you…" They pushed their way into the brightly-lit kitchen, where an impressive array of alcoholic beverages took up all available counter space. "…and you're not drunk yet."

* * *

"…You want me to do WHAT?" Dearka was staring wide-eyed at a large piece of paper.

"You heard me. Do everything on that list before… shall we say 1 am?" Yzak grinned wickedly. "You do it, you get the gift. You don't…" He shrugged. "…Too bad for you."

Dearka scrutinized the list, swaying slightly on the spot. He looked up and grinned. "I've got an hour? You're on."

* * *

When Athrun heard a male voice loudly crooning Celine Dion, he promptly decided that it was time to leave the kitchen. He was just worming his way between the fridge and a tall boy when he heard his name being yelled. 

"Athrun!"

He turned to see his best friend squeezing himself through the crowd toward him. "Kira!"

"I've been looking for you!" Kira stumbled as the taller boy pushed past him, accidentally shoving the brunette into Athrun.

"Hey, easy." Athrun righted Kira by the shoulders. "Yeah, Dearka told me. Kira…?"

Kira grinned.

Athrun raised his eyebrows. "…you're drunk!"

"Mmmmm… no!" Kira shook his head and grinned wider.

"Kira! Athrun!" The two blinked as Dearka materialized out of the crowd, balancing three very large, very full cups between his hands. "Here!" He shoved a cup at Athrun and another at Kira. "Let's go."

When both men looked at him blankly, Dearka produced a wrinkled piece of paper out of his jeans back pocket. "See here?

"_Dearka's 20th Birthday Challenge:  
_

_1. Serenade someone._

_2. Initiate a drinking contest._

_3. Convince a girl to trade clothes with you._

_4. Get 25 people to sign your shirt._

_5. Dance. On a table._

_6. Get two people to make out._"

Athrun and Kira merely blinked in response.

"Yzak won't give me my damn birthday present if I don't complete the list." There were large, scribbly checkmarks beside numbers 1, 4 and 5. "I have half an hour left, and I still need to convince Milly that I won't ruin her jeans if I wear them for five minutes. This shirt isn't really helping my argument." His formerly white t-shirt was now covered in multicoloured scribbles. Dearka hoisted his glass. "But I'm officially initiating the drinking contest. Ready?" He grinned. "Cheers!"

* * *

Athrun blinked three times in rapid succession. Ok, no change. Ok, floor still unexplainably wobbly. Dearka apparently had had no intention of losing his drinking contest. Athrun and Kira were left stumbling after the blonde, who, with less than ten minutes left before his deadline, was squeezed into his girlfriend's jeans and black tank top. He had only one goal left on his list and he had said that he had "an excellent idea," before promptly taking off towards the dining room. 

"Have you two seen Miriallia anywhere?" The two girls stopped chattering to ogle at Dearka's outfit.

One managed to squeak out a "No" between giggles.

Dearka sighed and looked at the clock. "Shit! Seven minutes!" Athrun watched warily as an evil grin formed. "Say, girls… You know how it's my birthday and everything, well, you see… I got this list from a friend," He pulled the increasingly crumpled list out of his back pocket and proceeded to point to the checked off goals. "I've completed these, but I only have six minutes left and if I don't finish this then I don't get Yzak's present!" He wailed, while Athrun and Kira tried to hold in their own laughter. "Look, there's only THIS one left," Dearka stabbed his finger towards the last item on the list, and missed by a good couple centimeters. He tried again, with better results. "…and I was wondering, seeing as I now only have six minutes and I REALLY want my present, if you two would be willing to, er, help?"

The two girls gawked at him. And then gawked at each other. And then turned back to him. "You want us to WHAT?"

"Err, make out?" Dearka was sure, for a second, he was going to be slapped.

"You…!" One girl began. And then she suddenly grinned. At Athrun. "Hold on a second."

Dearka tapped his foot. Four minutes and counting, and the girls were now whispering and giggling.

The girls nodded to each other and turned again to Dearka. "On one condition." The girl grinned. "Only if they," She pointed at Athrun and Kira, "do it first."

Athrun and Kira looked mildly shell shocked. Dearka looked back and forth between the two grinning girls and his two wide-eyed friends. "You're serious."

"Yeah."

Three minutes. Dammit. He didn't want to lose! He was dressed in Milly's clothes, for shit's sake! "Fine."

Athrun gaped. "Dearka!"

"You don't and I'll…I'll… Tell Cagalli – and Lacus," He added before Kira could interrupt, "that… you made out with these two girls instead!" Athrun was tempted to wipe the triumphant smile off of Dearka's face for him. If only he'd stop swaying back and forth like that, that is.

Dearka decided that he wouldn't mind a bit watching the _second_ half of these… negotiations.

"Ne, Athrun?" Kira spoke up over the still-blasting music.

Athrun turned to face the violet-eyed boy to see an impish grin on his friend's lips. "Kira…?"

Kira stepped close and whispered in his best friend's ear. "Might as well make it worth their while, then…" And one violet eye, so close to Athrun's own, winked, before two wiry arms wrapped around his neck and forcefully pulled their bodies together. For a moment they stood nose-to-nose, Athrun reeling in shock, when Kira grinned and _kissed_ him. Reflexively, Athrun returned the embrace, wrapping his arms about Kira's waist and stumbling back slightly as the brunette pressed up against him.

He didn't realize he was enjoying it until Kira pulled away, grinning mischievously. He felt like the other boy's body must be imprinted on his skin, for surely this residual warmth must be visible.

"Not good enough." Athrun tore his eyes off of Kira to look incredulously at the two girls.

"What?"

"We said it's not good enough."

"But –"

"How about this, then?" Kira gave Athrun no warning this time, instead choosing to nearly tackle him with the intensity of the kiss. Athrun stumbled backwards, only realizing that the dining room table was behind him once he hit it. He opened his mouth to say something, anything about the complication, but Kira's tongue was suddenly _there_, invading, and he could think of nothing but responding. And when Kira, one arm around his neck, the other around his chest, continued to push back and down, Athrun obligingly leaned back so he landed with a 'thump' on the dining room table, the brunette on his chest. His hands were in Kira's hair, feathering over his sharp shoulders, sweeping over his chest, Kira's legs tangling in his own and he could almost, _almost_, drown out the happy squealing of the girls with his pounding heartbeat. And if Kira tasted vaguely of all they had drunk he didn't mind, for more overpowering was the smell and touch and taste of Kira _himself_ that was delicious and consuming at the same time.

Kira pulled away and stared down at his friend, absent-mindedly licking his lips. Athrun returned the gaze, not really bothering to care that he was effectively pinned to the wooden table while being gawked at by most of the room.

Yzak coughed and snatched the list out of Dearka's stunned grasp, shoving a gift-wrapped box in Dearka's direction as he did so. "Well, looks like you got the last one just on time, too." He glanced over at the table. "Although why you picked those two, I don't understand."

"Hey, I didn't! Those friends of Milly's said that –" He gawked as he realized that the two girls had disappeared into the throng of people. "Those- Those- Jerks!" He waved a fist in the air. "You made me watch THOSE TWO for NOTHING?"

Kira chuckled and grinned, and Athrun could feel the rumble in his own chest.

"Bah!" Dearka glanced sideways at his two friends sprawled on the table. "You two going to get up, or what?"

"Erm, right." Athrun looked up at his friend expectantly. "Kira?"

Kira grinned. "Right." For the moment it took to reposition his hands so as to lever his body off of the table, Kira's full weight was left on Athrun, their faces nose-to-nose. And for that split second, Athrun could have sworn that their lips brushed before Kira was standing, offering a hand to help him up.

Athrun took it and stumbled slightly as his feet hit the floor. Kira steadied him and stole the chance to lean in and speak in Athrun's ear. "Wanna know a secret?" Athrun tilted his head in an affirmative. "…I think I've always wanted to do that!"

* * *


End file.
